Arrested US citizen reveals about his earlier visits to Pakistan

LAHORE: Blacklisted arrested United States citizen Matthew Craig Barrett has during interrogation revealed that he had earlier visited Pakistan twice and contacted Pakistani higher authorities for citizenship, ARY News reported.

According to details, intelligence agencies had expressed reservation over giving him permanent residency after which he could not get citizenship and was blacklisted for spying about the details of nuclear programme of Pakistan.

Sources said Matthew had married a Pakistani woman and had children from her on the basis of which he wanted to get Pakistani citizenship. Meanwhile, he also illegally went to a sensitive area in Golrah Shareef on a spy mission, on which a case was registered against him on intelligence agencies’ report in which had raised questions over his suspicious activities.

Matthew was present in Pakistan from 2008 to 2012 and first case against him was registered in 2011 in Jacobabad. Later the same year, a court had blacklisted the US national from Pakistan on charges of espionage.

The US citizen was again arrested from an Islamabad guest house for entering into Pakistan despite being blacklisted. He evaded airport authorities by wrong bio-data on his boarding card.

The federal interior minister had on Saturday suspended staff of immigration shift including a Federal Investigation Agency’s Assistant Director employed on the airport for granting immigration permission to the black-listed American citizen and issuing visa of Pakistan to him.

He also directed the officials posted at Pakistani embassy in the Houston to respond on the incident. He inquired as why a black-listed citizen was issued a visa to enter into Pakistan and who gave this permission.